Me, Inc.
Our economy is an uncertain thing, and we've all seen or been part of cut-backs in the work force. I was told about a situation in the eastern U.S. where a job opening for 400 people lured over 16,000 applicants. The field of education seems to be a bit more stable in these times, but it doesn't hurt to assess our skills and marketability.
In this article, we're going to discuss the idea of digital portfolios. As always, we will conclude with a complete lesson plan that you can use in the classroom, but it's a valuable lesson for the teacher as much as the student. Look at it this way - you can take care of a couple things at once here; assess your own employability and provide a visual example to your students of the kind of work you expect them to produce. There's nothing more motivating than a "boss" that's willing to get down in it and do the dirty work with you.
The Power of the Portfolio
In the early 1990's, English author Charles Handy began advising people to view their careers as "a portfolio of work". What he was describing is the idea that we can all manage our careers the same way one manages a financial portfolio. Rather than looking at our employment history as a chronological "job-ladder", many of us would be better off if we viewed it as a collection of jobs, with an outcome of skills and assets.
There are three basic tenets which advice columns and career articles are advising, regardless of our career level or field.
1) Think of your career as a portfolio of work.
2) Think of yourself as a marketable set of skills, not as a job title.
3) Embark on your job search as an entrepreneur, the marketer of a product called "Me, Inc."
How scary is that? Well, take a deep breath. Preparing a portfolio now, before you need to start marketing Me, Inc. will save you weeks of frustration when you most need it. Using a real portfolio helps us present our skills and talents in a convincing and fresh manner, offering a new angle on the bored concept of the traditional resume. It can help us visually provide examples
